Events mark year since Guilio Regeni's disappearance

Friends and justice campaigners have been remembering the murdered student Guilio Regeni in a series of events a year after his disappearance.

Mr Regeni, 28, was in Egypt conducting postgraduate research into trade unions when he went missing in January 2016.

His body was found in a ditch on the outskirts of Cairo nine days later. He had been abducted and tortured.

There were events in 12 cities, including the European Parliament building in Brussels.

Italian national Mr Regeni, a PhD student at the department of politics and international studies at the University of Cambridge, was a visiting scholar at the American University in Cairo when he disappeared.

Labour MEP for the East of England, Alex Mayer, led a demonstration in the European Parliament buildings in Brussels earlier.

"This was a crime that resonated not only across Cambridgeshire, but also Italy and the whole of Europe," she said.

"One year on, we still don't know the full truth of what happened to Guilio. His family and friends deserve to know.

"Guilio's murder also raises wider questions about academic freedom. Academics need protection for democracy to flourish."

Ms Mayer has written to the EU Foreign Affairs chief calling for a new strategy to assist academics studying in potentially dangerous countries.

In Cambridge, fellow students also took to the streets to remember their friend ahead of an evening chapel service in Girton College.

Mr Regeni's own bicycle was decorated and ridden through the city in the pre-planned event.

Colleague Chris Hope said: "We just want to show support to Guilio's family - and to show that we care."

Events also took place in Rome, Oxford, Washington DC and New Mexico where Mr Regeni attended high school.

Further events are planned in the coming days.